| Ryan Long | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born: | February 21, 1983 |
| Birth Hometown: | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Occupation: | rideshare driver |
| Known for: | His 16-game Jeopardy! winning streak |
Ryan Long (born February 21, 1983) is a rideshare driver from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is the 14th superchampion, and the fourth such player in S38.
Jeopardy! Run[]
He first appeared on the show on May 13, 2022 and became a 16-game champion, amassing $299,400.
Regular Play[]
| Game No. | Air Date | Final score | Cumulative Winnings | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | May 13, 2022 | $18,800 | $18,800 | Ryan's first win from second place. |
| 2 | May 14, 2022 | $24,200 | $43,000 | |
| 3 | May 17, 2022 | $27,000 | $70,000 | |
| 4 | May 18, 2022 | $16,600 | $86,600 | Ryan's first runaway game. |
| 5 | May 19, 2022 | $19,201 | $105,801 | |
| 6 | May 20, 2022 | $26,000 | $131,801 | |
| 7 | May 23, 2022 | $13,400 | $145,201 | |
| 8 | May 24, 2022 | $15,200 | $160,401 | Ryan entered Final Jeopardy with exactly twice as much money as challenger Bonnie Kistler; she bet everything and missed Final, and he bet $0 and got it wrong. |
| 9 | May 25, 2022 | $12,900 | $173,301 | Ryan's second runaway game. |
| 10 | May 26, 2022 | $10,000 | $183,301 | Ryan's third runaway game. |
| 11 | May 27, 2022 | $25,999 | $209,300 | Ryan's second win from second place. |
| 12 | May 30, 2022 | $17,000 | $226,300 | Ryan's fourth runaway game |
| 13 | May 31, 2022 | $26,400 | $252,700 | Ryan's fifth runaway game. |
| 14 | June 1, 2022 | $7,400 | $260,100 | Ryan's third win from second place and everyone came up with the same incorrect response "What is Waterloo?" |
| 15 | June 2, 2022 | $19,300 | $279,400 | |
| 16 | June 3, 2022 | $20,000 | $299,400 | Ryan's sixth runaway game. |
| 17 | June 6, 2022 | $1 | $300,400 | Eric Ahasic ends his streak and goes on to win five more games. |
End of the Streak[]
He was defeated by Eric Ahasic on June 6th, 2022. He was playing as he normally did until he found and missed the first Daily Double, which allowed Eric and Stephanie Garrison to get ahead of him. Both other contestants sped away in Double Jeopardy, while Ryan sat at just $2,800 for the first 25 clues of the round. He did manage to pick up $4,000 over the last five clues, but still sat in third place going into Final. Eric was the only correct respondent in Final, ending Ryan’s streak. He finished with $1 and received the third-place prize of $1,000.
Eric would go on to win 6 games and $160,601, making him the second highest-earning and second-longest-streaking giant killer (term given to players who defeated champions who won 10 or more games) behind Jonathan Fisher (11 games and $246,100 after defeating Matt Amodio). Eric was very strong on Daily Doubles, finding 15 of the 21 available during his run and being correct on 13 of them. His average of $6,800 on the Daily Doubles per game is the second strongest of any player in the 2022 Tournament of Champions roster, only being bested by Matt himself, at $7,800 per game.
Eric would lose to Megan Wachspress, who herself won 6 games; Ryan, Eric, and Megan are the only back-to-back-to-back superchampions in Jeopardy! history[1]. Megan also holds the record for lowest 6-day total, at just $60,603, and won 3 of her 6 games by $2[2].
Tournament of Champions[]
Ryan was invited back for the 2022 Tournament of Champions and faced 6-time champ Megan Wachspress and 4-time Maureen O’Neil in his quarterfinal game. Unfortunately, he appeared to be too exhausted and too nervous to find any momentum with buzzer timing; thus, along with Megan, he was knocked out of the Tournament in the first round, with Maureen advancing to the semifinals[3]. He and Megan each collected the $5,000 consolation prize; Ryan’s current show earnings stand at $305,400.
Evaluation[]
Common with Other Champions[]
Trivia[]
- As he joined the ranks of champions with more than 10 consecutive wins, 5 champions with more than 10 consecutive wins will participate in the 2022 ToC[4].
- Also, only 30 people before Ryan, have been champions this season.
- He started wearing glasses from the 6th consecutive win challenge[5].
- Before his episode aired, Fox's Promo had indirectly exposed the results (#1 / #2).
- He is the champion with the lowest 10-game winning streak among the champions who have won 10 or more so far, and is the champion without a record of more than $30,000[6].
- Like David Madden, he is the 3rd champ with 10 or more wins in a row to come back to 2nd place on before FJ! and 3 or more times before FJ!.
- With his departure, Monday became the day the champion with 10 or more victories was the most out of the week (David Madden, Julia Collins, James Holzhauer and Matt Amodio). Instead, three people who beat them succeeded in winning a streak (Emma Boettcher, Jonathan Fisher and Eric Ahasic), and All three qualified for the ToC[7].
- On June 10, 2022, Eric becomes a 6-day champion, beating the long-term champion and becoming the second champion to win five or more in a row, and this season, eight players have competed in regular games before ToC. Also, Megan Wachspress, who defeated Eric, also won six consecutive victories on June 21, becoming the third consecutive player to advance to the ToC.
- On October 23, 2022, he appeared as a category on the Primetime Celebrity Jeopardy! 4th quarterfinal game’s Triple Jeopardy round, presenting clues about Philadelphia.
- Like Seth Wilson, Jonathan Fisher and Cris Pannullo, he is a champion with more than 10 consecutive wins who did not even reach the ToC semifinals[8].
- In all of his appearances, he wore a special rainbow bead necklace made by his 8-year-old son, Nathan.
References[]
- ↑ This is the third record ever, and as the number of ToC entrants later increased to 21, three 4-game winning streak champions also competed in the ToC (Christine Whelchel, Margaret Shelton and Maureen O'Neil).
- ↑ The previous 6-game winning streak champion's minimum prize money recipient is S27 champion Christopher Short ($94,752), and S29 champion Dave Leach ($98,054) has six consecutive wins under $100,000 in 10 years.
- ↑ Marueen then lost to 40-win champion and ToC winner Amy Schinder in Semi-final, but performed well, reaching the semifinals despite being the lowest seed.
- ↑ As a result, at least two out of five champions who have won ten consecutive victories will be eliminated before the semifinals.
- ↑ Arthur Chu also often wore glasses.
- ↑ Next up is Julia Collins at $198,710.
- ↑ However, Emma was invited to the ToC on the recommendation of the producers, not on her own.
- ↑ seth didn't even get a WC benefit, and including Jason, who reached the semi-finals with WC in the S37, is a champion with more than 10 wins in a row without a single win.